Brighton Homes Arena (Springfield) discussions

[PattyKwasagun]

Maybe if your a crow , the traffic west , plus the fact there is a tunnel from the Gabba to Kedron makes it about even. It's that last 5 km of the Springfield trip where you turn off the freeway that seems to hit you. It is still not too late to accept the Moreton Bay council offer, they could even put another club like the Springwood one in there to improve their bottom line as there is no competition out there unless you count Costco

Few points worth making:

-The offer from the Moreton Bay council was not comparable to what we'll be getting at Springfield. Would have to settle for a significantly worse set-up. Some commercial partners who are coming with us to Springfield to finance the project also weren't keen on Burpengary. All of that aside, my understanding is that the Moreton Bay council offer was taken off the table some time ago, so it is too late to take it in any case.

-Forget 'as the crow flies' - according to Google Maps, Burpengary is a 42 minute drive from the Gabba. The Springfield facility is 26 minutes from the Gabba.

-I can't imagine any of our players would be interested in driving 25 minutes from Burpengary to Bribie Island to do a warm down. I doubt Bribie holds much appeal to them in general, to be honest. Would think they'd rather be within close access of the Gold Coast if anything.

-Springfield and the surrounding area has great golf courses, shopping centres, and even a bunch of pretty good cafes opening up. The Burpengary location is in the middle of nowhere.

-Springfield is right next to a major train station, making it a very attractive option for use as a venue for Women's matches and pre-season games. Anyone who's been to a pre-season game at Burpengary and dealt with the shuttle bus system they've been using could see how important that is.

All of that aside, this is so far down the track that I'm a little surprised to see the location debate being rehashed again. I feel like this is ground that has been covered so comprehensively that many of us could probably qualify for some sort of diploma in the subject of the club's search for a new headquarters.

Some very talented people have been coordinating this project for a long time. If Burpengary was the better option, it would have been chosen. They didn't just throw darts at a map.

 

[Rocketman1984]

Yeah, Bribie Island will definitely make the club super attractive to potential recruits.
???????

Hey it's better than the mudflats of Wynnum or the Ipswich river, just think for a moment why we are losing so many first round recruits. It's not all homesickness. Brisbane not having a sandy coastline does result in people moving back interstate or moving up and done the Coast. That's why GWS moved towards the city, there players now live at Balmain and can go to Manly instead of living out at Blacktown and spending their down time at the Rooty Hill RSL club. The players are the lifeblood of the club and keeping them happy, motivated and being in area their friends and family would want to visit is the most important retention tool.

 

[Fatcat08]

I've worked at both Morayfield and springfield and I certainly know which one id rather be based at. It's the masterplanned community with a major expanding shopping centre, world class golf course, plenty of dining options within walking distance and a train station right next door as opposed to a burpengary which is at minimum a 5-10 minute drive from any other facilities. As for Bribie it's a 35 minute drive from burpengary, you don't want to be doing that far of a drive for a warm down which you can do in your own pool facilities. I'm kind of amazed that this has come up again tbh

 

[BRAB]

I've worked at both Morayfield and springfield and I certainly know which one id rather be based at. It's the masterplanned community with a major expanding shopping centre, world class golf course, plenty of dining options within walking distance and a train station right next door as opposed to a burpengary which is at minimum a 5-10 minute drive from any other facilities. As for Bribie it's a 35 minute drive from burpengary, you don't want to be doing that far of a drive for a warm down which you can do in your own pool facilities. I'm kind of amazed that this has come up again tbh

I honestly just think people get off on picking patches of grass on Google maps.

 

[carnthemlions]

I've worked at both Morayfield and springfield and I certainly know which one id rather be based at. It's the masterplanned community with a major expanding shopping centre, world class golf course, plenty of dining options within walking distance and a train station right next door as opposed to a burpengary which is at minimum a 5-10 minute drive from any other facilities. As for Bribie it's a 35 minute drive from burpengary, you don't want to be doing that far of a drive for a warm down which you can do in your own pool facilities. I'm kind of amazed that this has come up again tbh

Drive to Bribie Island vs pool- yeah I'd pick the pool.

 

[SizeMatters]

Got family that live in Morayfield... if you go further west or north it's actually not that bad out in the rural areas.

Everything else is a just a dumping ground for societies shit though to put it bluntly. Almost got stabbed three times with one of those times by a 10 inch screwdriver, saw someone getting robbed and have his head bashed in, plenty of kids injecting, smoking drugs and huffing paint/petrol out in the open and it seemed the shopping precinct there had hundreds of teenagers with no respect for authority. Can see why the club didn't want anything to do with the area!

 

[Skoob]

 

[Mr Ripper]

LOL norfside

 

[The Flying Belgian]

I honestly just think people get off on picking patches of grass on Google maps.

I've done virtually this for a living. Not sure why people would do it for free.

 

[Hollow Knight]

I'm kind of amazed that this has come up again tbh

But why not Coorparoo or Yeronga?

 

[Quigley]

-Forget 'as the crow flies' - according to Google Maps, Burpengary is a 42 minute drive from the Gabba. The Springfield facility is 26 minutes from the Gabba.

-I can't imagine any of our players would be interested in driving 25 minutes from Burpengary to Bribie Island to do a warm down. I doubt Bribie holds much appeal to them in general, to be honest. Would think they'd rather be within close access of the Gold Coast if anything.

-Springfield and the surrounding area has great golf courses, shopping centres, and even a bunch of pretty good cafes opening up. The Burpengary location is in the middle of nowhere.

Why is the Gabba relevant? It is not like the players are likely to live in either place and they only have to commute to games there 11 times a year. Commute to the Gabba should be largely irrelevant to any consideration.

Quite frankly if I was a young guy I would much prefer to live on the Sunshine Coast at somewhere like Mooloolaba than a Springfield or even central Brisbane. Beach lifestyle would be a big selling feature. For those who liked a bit quieter life there is also the Sunshine Coast hinterland which is pretty close.

 

[The Bear]

Both options (Burpengary and Ipswich) are awful.

 

[jackess]

Probably something along the lines of wish in one hand, shit in the other. See which one gets filled first.

Unfortunately we're not in a position to be picky. We are in a position to build a state of the art facility at Springfield though. Just need the extra cash to host AFLW games.

 

[Dalions]

There is already 40mil on the table at Springfield plus a 99yr token lease.
Only about 12mil from memory at Burpengary.
The decision has already been made.
It will be interesting to see how things pan out through the election period.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Call me cynical but is 15 million for AFL facilities in rugby league territory even classed as juicy pork?

We are really banking on the "women's sport" angle I think.

 

[carnthemlions]

Why is the Gabba relevant? It is not like the players are likely to live in either place and they only have to commute to games there 11 times a year. Commute to the Gabba should be largely irrelevant to any consideration.

Quite frankly if I was a young guy I would much prefer to live on the Sunshine Coast at somewhere like Mooloolaba than a Springfield or even central Brisbane. Beach lifestyle would be a big selling feature. For those who liked a bit quieter life there is also the Sunshine Coast hinterland which is pretty close.

Burpengary isn't particularly close to the Sunshine coast either.

 

[Davemonkey]

Call me cynical but is 15 million for AFL facilities in rugby league territory even classed as juicy pork?

We are really banking on the "women's sport" angle I think.

I reckon the German Club pork knuckles are bigger!

 

[Hornet1]

Gold Coast are right next to the beach and it hasn’t helped them hang onto their players.

The hardest part of being away from home is the first few years. All your mates are still at home going to uni or working and they are putting up their party photos all Saturday night. Meanwhile your struggling with life as an afl player, missing your family and friends.

It’s the next few years when you your friends also start to move away for their jobs/relationships/travelling that it becomes easier.

 

[Billy Puller]

Large contingent of singe females on bribie. Just what our new boys need. Obviously if Shache was warming down at bribie he'd had a bribie girlfriend and would still be at the club, what could've been.

 

[SizeMatters]

Large contingent of singe females on bribie. Just what our new boys need. Obviously if Shache was warming down at bribie he'd had a bribie girlfriend and would still be at the club, what could've been.

Was playing the Bribie Bulldogs one day and at half time in their change rooms a chick just walked in, went to the corner, dropped her pants and took the worst shit I have ever seen. All over in 30 seconds... biggest WTF moment of my footy career.

Some good lookers on Bribie though.

 

[Back2Back2Back]

Call me cynical but is 15 million for AFL facilities in rugby league territory even classed as juicy pork?

We are really banking on the "women's sport" angle I think.

Oh dude, entirely. I watched a 7 news article about the announcement (the most recent one) for the Springfield development - not a male player in sight for the entire article. Only the Lions CEO, then the AFLW CEO, some of the main players from our AFLW team, that fly over of the original Springfield facility design with that big glass wall behind the goals... and end of article.

So on that consideration, $15m for an AFL Women's facility in rugby league territory is so much juicy fat pork it's not funny. Just don't tell anyone that the men's team plan on using it too.

 

[Skoob]

Large contingent of singe females on bribie. Just what our new boys need. Obviously if Shache was warming down at bribie he'd had a bribie girlfriend and would still be at the club, what could've been.

They're 78 though. Good news for the over 50s clique annual BBQ, but less so for our footy players.

 

[JasperBeardly]

They're 78 though. Good news for the over 50s clique annual BBQ, but less so for our footy players.

I haven't been to Bribie in years, but that's probably about what it was back in the '80s when we used to get dumped at the grandparent's place most school holidays. God's waiting room they used to call it. Mid-week sightings of other children were rare.

 

[Pacman82]

How's this for a good spot.. the huge parcels of land either side of the M3 around Mount Gravatt just 10 minutes down the road from The Gabba. I'd say a central location is massively important for the clubs identity, accessibility & ability to retain players. Springfield sounds like Polookaville to me.

 

[BRAB]

How's this for a good spot.. the huge parcels of land either side of the M3 around Mount Gravatt just 10 minutes down the road from The Gabba. I'd say a central location is massively important for the clubs identity, accessibility & ability to retain players. Springfield sounds like Polookaville to me.

Good point. Who do we ring to cancel the Springfield lease and the millions of dollars of funding commited to the current location.